Please read the story of The Bleeding Heart Republic!!!
In 1976 BHR was founded by long time friends Billy Sawyer and David Sputnik. Sawyer was born in Holloway in London, England... but hisfamily relocated to the United States when he was just 5 years old. Sputnik grew up in Washington DC to a lower class family. Theirpathes crossed when they were both just 9 years old on the streets of DC not far from where they were going to school. David had witnessedSawyer being pushed around by a local bully while a growing crowd simply watched. He had decided to take matters into his own hands bypulling the kid off of Sawyer and giving him two black eyes and a free trip to a nearby hospital. They had been best friends ever since.
Bill Sawyer, or "Skunk," as he was later named for his aquired taste of drinking from opened beer cans that had been sitting around fordays, was already playing the guitar for a few years before they had met. He had convinced David to pick up the drums so that they couldtry to form a band. Reluctantly he agreed, however, he knew there was no way he'd be able to afford a new set. So one night when the twowere just 13 years old, they broke into a local music store, stole the first set they could find and just barely escaped from the cops withwhatever they could carry.
By 1975 they were already playing together and had written several songs. It was time that they completed the puzzle. The pair had beengetting serious about their music and the hunger to play a show was growing. They had auditioned over a dozen bass players but none thathad matched the vision that Sawyer had in mind. In 1976 Billy and David were attending a show of one of their favorite punk bands,TreeSap. There seemed to be intense animosity on stage when a psychical brawl erupted between two of the members of TreeSap in the middleof the third song. Before the police could show up two of the members were unconcious and standing over them was bassist Anthony "Bells"Pratt. Pratt was arrested and spent the night in jail. The next morning when he exited the police station, like hungry vultures, Sawyerand Sputnik were waiting for him. When they asked him if he wanted to play for them, he simply stated, "...sure whatever. I don't fuckinghave a whole lot else to do!" Bleeding Heart Repubic was born.
Pratt, the most accomplished and experienced member of the band, soon became the brains of the operation. Billy and David did not objectto this. Bells showed up to a rehearsal one night in 1977 and told everyone to pack everything up immediately and load the van as fast aspossible. When asked why, he wouldn't answer. "Just do it!!" he screamed. After 2 hours of driving, they had arrived outside of a bar inNYC. The marquee outside sent shivers down their spines. They were opening up for Iggy Pop. After the show, Bill had approached Iggy andthanked him for the opportunity. Iggy simply pointed his finger into Sawyer's chest and said "Don't ever stop. You guys had MYattention." He smiled, winked and walked away.
A new fire had started in Sawyer since that day and the band had decided it was time to put their music to tape. When they had contactedGlen Jones from Skylark Records he had agreed to give the band recording time. They had spent 4 months recording 12 songs. This probablywouldn't have taken so long if Pratt had not been disappearing for weeks at a time. He ignored all questions as to his whereabouts.
Sawyer had been so excited about the completion of the record that he wasn't careful about the things he was signing his name to. By theend of 1979, the band was beginning to get a little antsy about the production process of their beloved recording. They had worried aboutit sounding "too commercial" and wanted it to have a more edgy and raw quality about it. Jones had his own intent in mind. Continuallymaking up excuses as to why the album wasn't finished, Jones began to make himself difficult to contact. Agitation at his actions begangrowing and the band was becoming furious. Finally a year and a half after they had finished recording. Pratt had received a phone callfrom Glen Jones at 3am one morning. Pratt was angry but optimistic that this would be the fateful phone call that they had been waitingfor. Unfortunately all Jones had to say was that Skylark Records was shelving the album indefinitely. When asked if they were allowed themaster recordings, he refused. Pratt was devistated. The rest of the band took it hard as well.
By 1981 The Bleeding Heart Republic had played their last show. They never fully recovered emotionally from the heartbreak of losing 3years of hard work. After several court battles, it turned out that both Sawyer and the more experienced Pratt had signed one too manycontracts in their excitement. They had lost the rights to their own music.
David "Jeeves" Sputnik continued to play music. Occasionally as a special guest on the local scene in New York City. He ended up playingas a studio musician on several highly successful albums in the late 80s under a pseudonym. However a back injury prematurely ended hisdrumming days in the early 90s. He has since fully recovered but has retired from the music business to focus his life on other things.Tragedy struck the Sputnik family in 2001 when he lost a brother who was a firefighter responding to the attacks on the World Trade Center.He is now married and living in Rhoade Island with his wife and 3 kids. All 3 of which are musicians.
Bill "Skunk" Sawyer had lost touch with David when he decided that he couldn't stand the city any longer. "There were just too manypainful memories there. I loved it, I really did, but I just couldn't sit around all day and think about what could have been. I would'vedone that until I died. The only thing I truly miss is Jeeves. He and I were brothers... for all intents and purposes." He spent most ofthe 90s back in the town where he was born in London, England. And since then has moved back to the United States in 2000 where he nowlives in Arizona.
Anthony "Bells" Pratt had never recovered from what Glen Jones had done to them and following the breakup of the band in 1981 sank intodeep depression. Drugs and alcohol replaced music and mayhem. In 1989 he was arrested and charged with breaking and entering, andattempted murder when he broke into Skylark Records in an attempt to steal the master recordings so that he could release them underground.In the process accidentally shooting and wounding one security guard with the guards own hand gun and earning himself 1 year in prison.He fought his demons for over 20 years. He decided to give rehab a try in 2001 and emerged with a new outlook on life. He was planning onbettering himself and finally settling down somewhere in the south. Unfortunately as fate would have it, in 2002 he was killed in anautomobile accident. The police report says that alcohol was NOT involved. It was simply an accident.
Many people in the New York City punk scene remember the Bleeding Heart Republic. And if they don't, their parents do. They are stillconsidered one of those bands that if their music was released to the public in their prime, we would still be singing praises of them.They had a raunchy tone and vicious lyrics. One fan described them as a mix of scene punk, british invasion, and pure hard rock. "...andtheir live show was unrivaled." In several show reviews, Skunk Sawyer was referred to as one of the greatest front men they had ever seen. One fan recalls, "He had a presence to him. He wasn't a big guy, but he was intimidating. Of his appearance I remember these huge blackwork boots. And when he'd tap his foot the stage would shake. He also had these tight ripped jeans that always had some kind of writingon it. Usually it had just looked like he took notes on it when he couldn't find anything else to write on. And a leather vest with allkinds of buckles and spikes on it. His hair was long and always hung in front of his face. Usally greasy and sweaty from the show.Either that or he never showered. He was the one that would disappear after the show with one of the groupies. That is, if you werelucky. Cause occasionally if the mood hit them, they would do their business right there in front of anybody that wanted to watch. It wasa diffent time. And they definitely stand out in my mind as one of the bands that you thought were going to make it big."
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2006 - The Bleeding Heart Republic gets their wish.
In 2004, Bob Fetzler aquired the Skylark library after they closed their doors for good. He had come across the master tapes of BHR andspent months trying to contact Bill Sawyer. Finally in 2006 they met up and made a deal for the masters. Sawyer was ecstatic. All heneeded was someone with the knowledge to revive the tapes. They were not takin care of for the 30 years that they had sat on a shelf, butsome of them were still in good condition. Fetzler aided Sawyer in finding someone who was educated in audio restoration. That's whenBryan Marcos got involved. Now, finally in 2007 The Bleeding Heart Republic's album will finally be released. It was appropriately titled"Hello and Goodbye!" Sawyer has full creative control over the project and has decided that the album, when complete, will be released onthe internet for free.
In a phone interview Bill states:
"I'm not looking for money for this anymore. It was never really about that. We wanted our music to get out so people can hear us. Wewanted to do our part for the punk/metal scene. My only regret is that Pratt isn't here for this. (he pauses and clears his throat) Butlife goes on for us. I really want this to be huge. I want him to be remembered for his participation. Not for his drinking andpartying. But for his music. We all put our lives into this. And I think you'll hear that."
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The Bleeding Heart Republic and MySpace!!
In 2005, a close family friend of mine, Billy Sawyer approached me and asked me what the best way to promote music on the internet. When Itold him about MySpace he asked me if I could run a site for him since he has very little computer knowledge. I was extremely excited tobe involved in the promotion of "Hello and Goodbye!" I had long since heard stories about BHR and the magic that occurred in New York Cityin the late 70s. My parents simply told me that "you HAD to be there".. and that "they were FAR ahead of their time!" Well.. afterhearing the preliminary mixes... I can honestly say that these guys were tight. And it's a shame that they didn't go as far as they weredestined to. Sputnik was as solid as a drummer can be. Pratt was idolized by scene musicians as a punk bass god. And Sawyer's viciousguitar and piercing vocals were just as aggressive as he looked.
I'm just letting everybody know that if you want to contact Skunk, feel free to do so through this myspace. I do run it, but he does readALL the messages and will do his best to respond to every single one of them. Thank you to all of you.
Much Love,
jenn hodgess
(lead singer of The SubTones)Create or get your
very own MySpace Layouts
